I suppose it is bad form to make a thread mostly directed at the developers but I felt this needed to be asked and people can weigh in thoughts.

I am curious on if testing is going in the direction that the developers are hoping. If there are areas they hoped to see more feedback on, things they wants us to test, things that while relevant are of lower importance to you at this point etc. I ask because we have a lot of thoughts on end game balance and a few people who formed new profiles to look at quests and progress in a different light. I just wonder how much of this is useful feedback for the current design and development goals.

I still see(and participate) in conversations about class redesign(or tweaking) along with items and dungeons. Should we spend our energy here? Do you find these conversations useful(they will probably happen regardless though since you have a bunch of theory minded people in here). I think we all want to find the best way to push you towards release for selfish and altruistic reasons.

On a side note: I think it is great the level of communication the dev's have over all and would in no way criticize(you have to choose between talking or coding). I just wanted to say I found your breakdown on thoughts for "death" to be refreshing and would love if you could talk more on your design thoughts and direction as time allows. I think we often spend a lot of time and energy arguing things that might be more focused if we had a better idea of intent(if there was any).

Regardless, since it is coming up soon and you will take a deserved break. MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR, I AM NOT FAMILIAR IF THERE ARE OTHER MAJOR HOLIDAYS DOMINATING SOUTH AFRICAN TIME(I AM UNCULTURED AND LIKE SHIFT KEY) BUT HAPPY ALL OF THOSE TOO!

I'd also like to chime in with a plea for any concrete stuff you wan't tested. Far too late to still have stuff laying about untested (waiting for us to find it), and in the current walkthrough I came across a few things I don't remember ever being mentioned in any feedback. And I'm also aware that some stuff will remain untested by me if I simply follow the quests - Cursed Oasis, Slime Pits, Tinker, Crusader, Transmuter and such. Those things desperately need questlines.

I'm done with my "midgame" goals and will provide a concise overview of my findings in a separate thread, but I'll be happy to look into whatever you guys lack feedback on. And I intentinally layed of the traditional "cheeze" this time around, so you won't be getting nearly as much "nerf this or that" whining as usual.

As far as testing is concerned, we generally attempt to guide people more subtly by adjusting particular classes / traits as we need them tested. Usually, at the time we make a balance adjustment to something, that's when we need to get it looked at. Design changes at this stage in the project always feel more dangerous because everything is dependent on a lot of other things.

The "death" topic is complex and conflicted and I prefer to stay out of it.

Balance discussions happen (kinda inevitable), unfortunately we don't promise hands-on response on any of those nearly as much as we used to. Other stuff that we've neglected keeps coming up as a reminder of our priorities.